Our Family Advent Prayer Service

Last Advent we took our nightly Jesse Tree ornament and reading ritual one step further and turned it into a full prayer service complete with singing... because what would an official prayer service be without singing. It was difficult to make the nightly commitment, but truly worth it. Ending our day in prayer as a family sent the kids, and me,...

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Ideas for December Feast Days and Celebrations

December is filled with great Feast Days, many of which correlate with Advent. (Here's the post that is filled with Advent ideas.) I've pulled together some ideas for celebrating these fun days, I can't wait to use them! December 6th: Feast of St. Nicholas Feast of St. Nicholas (2010) Feast of St. Nicholas (2013) Other Ideas: Visit...

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A Thankful Pumpkin Craft for Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving crafts continue in our home this week with thankful pumpkins! The kids really enjoyed making these. Well, they didn't really enjoy the part where they had to come up with 10 whole things that they are thankful for, which only magnified the need for this little exercise of gratitude. This simple craft can be made with only a...

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5 Ideas for Celebrating Advent with your Kids

Jesse Tree The Jesse Tree is an easy way to help prepare your kids for the coming of Christ by walking them through Salvation History one story at a time. Each day you add a new ornament to your tree making for a beautiful reminder of God's faithfulness. Pictures and scripture readings for each of our ornaments Our Family Advent Prayer...

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The Legend of Indian Corn Craft

Decorating for Thanksgiving is in full swing at the Cotter home. Last week's project was an Indian corn craft with a Christian twist. I recently found the above poem that gives Christian meaning to the colors of Indian corn kernels. I'm not really sure where it came from, and I doubt it's an authentic legend, but it made for a fun craft project...

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Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 5

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 5 I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here. Religion Lesson 1 Catholic Inspired...

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Thanksgiving Booklist

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I've been compiling a booklist of some of our favorite Thanksgiving books for future years. I have a few more books on hold that I might be adding, but here is what we have so far! An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa My Alcott* Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration by Julie Stiegemeyer* Thank You...

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Ringing in the Liturgical New Year with a New Patron Saint

As the Family Liaison for FOCUS, part of my job is to put together a quarterly newsletter. The latest edition went out on November 1st and one of our wives, Meghan Krueger, put together a fun article on the tradition of choosing a patron saint for the liturgical new year. With her permission I'm posting the article here at Catholic Missionary Family...

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How to Make a Cathedral for your Wooden Saint Dolls

I have been so excited to see and hear about the saint doll exchanges that many of you have been doing! It really is a lot of fun and for those of you who have recently done one, I hope you agree. Ready for the next step? Making a home for your dolls... I think the most appropriate home is a cathedral. Last year I started building our saint doll...

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